‘Hart of Dixie’ Review: The Story of an Overdue Breakup

The moment so many Hart of Dixie fans have been waiting for finally happened last night. It only took 16 episodes of frustration to get to this point, but here we are: Joel has left Bluebell and his relationship with Zoe is over (probably).

Don’t get me wrong – I’ve actually come to like Joel. He’s quirky and his love for the residents of Bluebell is awesome. I’m absolutely going to miss hearing the Truitt brothers call him Joe-el. But I’ve never once believed that Joel and Zoe were meant for each other or that their love story was a good one. It was a safe, dull relationship for a girl who had gotten her heart smashed to pieces. And now it has come to an end.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s talk about how we got to this point in “Carrying Your Love with Me.” Last week, we learned that Joel was heading to LA to supervise his book being turned into a movie. Zoe’s life is in Bluebell and she hates LA so they decided they were going to try a long distance relationship. Needless to say that was going to be a challenge and it was only a matter of time before things started going wrong.

Joel was super busy and Zoe’s attempts at seducing him via Skype were one disaster after the next. Their plans to visit each other kept falling through thanks to flight delays, the weather and the flu. Joel made it to town long enough for them to have a make out session in her car that left Zoe in tears and then she went to LA to surprise him – only to learn that his career was taking off so much that he was headed to London for a year. Joel asked Zoe to go with him, but she couldn’t because there was nothing for her there.

The realization that they had to end things was handled very maturely and I do think this is the true takeaway from this relationship. Zoe has grown up a little bit, not completely, but enough that she can recognize when it’s time to let go of something. Joel didn’t want to say goodbye forever and promised to come back to Bluebell in a year, but Zoe knew it probably wasn’t going to happen (Dear Show: Do not allow this to happen). She was hurt and sad and even though I was more or less cheering from my couch, I do feel bad that she was in pain.

But at least she wasn’t alone. Zoe returned to Bluebell and after accepting the Man of the Year Award on Joel’s behalf (Seriously, Show?), Zoe went to the carriage house to be sad and then Rose showed up, followed quickly by Lavon, Wade, Vivian, AnnaBeth, George and so many of the other Bluebell faces we know and love. They all crowded around Zoe to bring her comfort and friendship and it was so sweet and wonderful and again, it shows how far all of these people have come over the seasons. I really loved this scene.

Greg Gayne/The CW

Of course Zoe and Joel’s drama was not the only thing going on in the episode. Lemon had a proposition for her ex-fiancé – she wanted George to buy Fancy’s since Shelby wouldn’t sell it to her. Lemon would then buy half of it and George would be her silent partner. He was not on board with that, but then he learned that Lilianne had leased it and planned to sing songs about him (and Wade) to entertain/horrify the customers. Lemon, Wade and George teamed up to scare Lilianne off (literally – they made it seem like there were ghosts there) and George and Lemon became the new owners.

But it was a disaster because all they do is fight. Wade had to be a buffer between the two and since he had his own business to run, he enlisted help from other townspeople including Meatball and Tom to play buffer. George and Lemon got everything ready for the big opening and then the lawyer from last week (I don’t remember her name) showed up and announced that Lilianne was suing them for sabotaging her dream (insert proper legal term here). Wade and Vivian stepped up next to bail them out. Vivian tried being polite and then she hilariously threatened Lilianne into giving up the restaurant.

Wade wanted to find Lemon and George and tell them the good news, but no one had seen them. It turned out that they were drinking away their troubles and then sleeping together on George’s boat. A horrified Lemon quickly slipped out in the morning, but what does this new development mean? Will we be seeing George and Lemon Take Two? I think I could get behind that. I wasn’t crazy about them as a couple the first time around because they were both hiding so many things, but now that everything is out in the open and they have no problem standing up to one another? This could be interesting.

So there you have it – another couple bites the dust and it’s finally the right one. I’m guessing it’s only a matter of time before Wade and Vivian find themselves facing irreconcilable differences. In the meantime, we’ve got George and Lemon and whatever is happening between them to entertain us.

Now it’s your turn. Did you enjoy the episode? How happy are you that Joel and Zoe finally broke up? Or are you sad to see Joel go? What do you think about George and Lemon hooking up? Did you roll your eyes when Joel was announced man of the year? Will Brick ever get his coveted award? Hit the comments and share your thoughts and theories with us!